


holidays past

by sheriffandsteel



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Holidays, Modern Westeros, Slow Burn, gendrya gift exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:15:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28185258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheriffandsteel/pseuds/sheriffandsteel
Summary: "Is your dad Santa?”At fourteen they are the first words Gendry ever says to her.When he's thirty-one he finally gets his answer.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 37
Kudos: 124
Collections: Gendrya Gift Exchange 2020





	holidays past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aryasbadbenergy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasbadbenergy/gifts).



> based of the gendrya gift exchange prompt  
> Warden of the North Pole – Not many people realize that the legend of Santa Claus actually originates from the ancient Starks. No one knows how the Stark family toy store can make so many toys each Christmas, but one year, Gendry discovers the truth about their family’s magic.

"Is your dad Santa?” 

Gendry wasn’t really sure why he asked it. At fourteen he had long since stopped believing in Santa Claus, if he had ever really believed in him at all. He was not sure how old the girl sitting across the floor from him was, she was pretty small and he was not good with kids. If he had to guess he’d say she was somewhere between seven and ten. He didn’t know the average age of when kids stopped believing in Santa. The list of things he didn’t know seemed to grow longer by the minute. 

He wasn’t really sure where the question came from other than it seemed like the right thing to ask when you were sitting in the workroom of a toyshop and there were bolts of fabric and small tools and machinery parts everywhere. For a moment Gendry was worried that he had offended the girl but she just snorted and crossed her arms over her legs, running a hand under her dripping nose. “Of course not stupid.” 

They were the only words she said to him for the rest of the night. 

She didn’t speak but she did slide the plate of cookies she was eating his direction. Gendry might not know much but he still knew a peace offering when he saw one. 

He took a cookie. 

Gendry was fifteen and he wasn’t exactly having the easiest time adjusting but all things considered he thought he was doing a pretty good job since his mother had been dead barely more than a year and he’d been living with his previously estranged father and his family since then. Still, he wasn’t a big fan of being paraded around the annual Christmas party like he was another one of Robert Baratheon’s bestselling toys. It wasn’t even Robert’s party for gods' sake. 

By the time Robert was a few glasses of wine in Gendry was able to slip out from underneath his arm and slink down the empty hallway. He'd come this way last year and it had proved to be an effective escape route then. His luck held and he made it to the double doors at the end and finding them unlocked once more he slipped through them. 

The noise of the party dimmed and Gendry heaved a sigh of relief as he leaned back against the cold wood. He felt like he could finally breathe again. Opening his eyes, he was met with the familiar onslaught of colors and lights that he’d seen the year before albeit it had changed a bit. This time there was a waterfall of ribbons to the left and a bunch of metal figurines spinning from the ceiling reflecting lights off of the glass of the large snow globe in the center of the room. 

Gendry watched the snow swirl in fascinated silence for a long moment until the knob suddenly pushed into his back. He stumbled away from the door in surprise and looked over his shoulder in time to see the small girl he’d met in the room last year come inside, her cheeks bright red and an angry look in her eyes. She seemed surprised to see him but only gave him a glare before shoving the door shut with her foot. She stomped over to the edge of the deck looking down at the rest of the toy room and sat down with a flop. Gendry shifted behind her unsure of if he should leave or not. 

He’d met her earlier with her family and now knew that she was the youngest Stark daughter, Arya if he remembered right. He'd never been the best with names, sometimes he nearly forgot his own. She seemed angry and he knew that he should probably leave, he wasn’t supposed to be in there after all. But the thought of going out to the party filled him with far more dread than sitting next to a fuming child so he rolled his shoulders and cautiously went to sit beside her on the deck’s edge. 

Arya turned a sideways glare over at him, looping her arms over the metal of the railing. “You shouldn’t be in here.” 

“I know.” Gendry admitted sheepishly. He would offer to leave but he had a feeling if the girl wanted him gone, she would have no qualms about telling him so. 

Arya eyed him for a long moment before shrugging and turning back to the workshop. “I’m not going back to that party.” she said stubbornly as if Gendry would ever have tried to make her. He made a noise of assent, unless she told him to go or someone came and got him, he was staying put too thank you very much. Arya looked over at him at the noise and the angry flush seemed to have fled from her cheeks as she grinned at him, “What game should we play?” 

The magic of Christmas was quickly fading for him but maybe that was because Christmas for the Baratheon’s seemed to be flying across the country to stand in their competitor’s toyshop and chitchat and talk business. Technically it wasn’t even Christmas, it was only December twentieth, but the decorations everywhere made it a little hard to separate the two. 

Gendry lasted seventy-six minutes on the floor being passed around and grilled about his grades by adults he didn’t even know the names of before he escaped. 

Arya had beat him to the workshop. She looked up at the sound of the door opening and Gendry blinked a little, startled to find her eyes red rimmed. Her brown hair was sticking up in tufts and she had on a truly heinous dress. Gendry didn’t know much about fashion, especially for girls, but he had enough taste to know it was ugly and not her style at all. 

“Don’t say it.” Arya warned, swiping under her eyes angrily. Whether she was angry for crying or for him seeing it Gendry didn't know and wasn't about to ask. 

“Say what?” he asked curiously moving to sit down across from her. He was having a hard time not gaping in horror at her dress but he managed to keep his eyes focused on the rows of toy soldiers lining the shelves above her. 

“I look like a tree.” she grumbled, holding her arms out to her sides. 

Gendry spared a glance at her and he tried to fight it down but he couldn’t help it. 

He snorted. 

Her brow furrowed and Gendry panicked thinking she might cry again. His stepsister Myrcella cried sometimes and it always made Gendry nervous. 

“A nice tree.” he amended quickly hoping to stave off anymore tears before they came. 

Arya huffed and rolled her eyes but Gendry was pretty sure he caught a smile as she looked down at her lap. 

“Do you wanna see where we make the toys?” she asked suddenly, popping up to her feet before Gendry even had a chance to answer. 

He didn’t even make it an hour out at the party before he escaped into the workshop. The moment the heavy doors shut behind him he felt like he drew his first real breath in a year. Arya was already there and she looked over her shoulder at him, cookie crumbs falling onto her sweater as she munched away on what looked like an entire army of gingerbread men. 

“Not having any fun with the grownups?” she asked sarcastically and he had a feeling she was repeating something someone told her earlier, Sansa probably. 

“Grownups are over rated.” he reassured her moving to sit down next to her and swiping a handful of cookies off the plate. She let him without protest so Gendry knew whatever was bothering her was more serious than she was trying to let on. 

“Any cool new toys this year?” Gendry asked after a long moment of quiet. He was too used to Arya breaking the silence. He didn’t know what to talk about with her any more than he did with anyone. Words had never been his strong suit, action was. 

She gave a halfhearted shrug, kicking her legs. Gendry was amused to notice she was only in her socks and they were bright red with green wreaths printed on them. 

“I had an idea for a toy but dad says I'm too young.” Arya huffed, shoving an entire cookie in her mouth to prevent Gendry from asking her questions. 

He frowned at her before looking out at the shop. She looked so disappointed. He knew she wanted to be a part of her family business; he could see the pride in her face whenever she looked at the shop. He looked around too. All this space, all these materials, surely they could do something with it. 

“Make something now.” he declared, feeling like a lightbulb went off in his head the moment he said it. Arya turned to look at him in surprise and Gendry felt a grin blossom on his face at the expression. 

She didn’t have to spend much time thinking about his suggestion. Arya ducked under the bars around the deck and dropped the three feet down onto the workshop floor proper. Gendry stayed put and grinned as he watched her run around the shop and grab items, an idea for the toy clearly already in mind. She stopped suddenly and looked over at him her brow furrowed like she was confused to see him still in the same place. 

“Well?” she asked impatiently. “Aren’t you going to make something too?” 

He didn’t need to be asked twice. 

Gendry had never made a toy before but something about the room felt like magic and he seemed to know exactly what to do with the tools and his hands. The two years of welding he’d taken helped him from being totally clueless too. The finished toy was sloppy and lopsided but it was sturdy enough. Most importantly, to Gendry at least, he’d made it with his own bare hands. 

Arya seemed just as happy with her results as he was and she presented him with the wind-up wolf in her hands with a grin. “It’s a direwolf.” she explained proudly naming the wolves of ancient legends that supposedly guarded the North Pole. 

Gendry grinned finding it a fitting invention. He showed her the metal bull in his hands. He'd always been a fan of the animal and how stubborn they were. Plus, he thought the horns were cool. 

Arya smiled and plucked it from his hands, turning it over curiously. 

“It's good.” she admitted, surprised. Gendry wasn’t offended by the tone in fact it made him even more proud of his invention. Arya didn’t seem the type to compliment if she didn't mean it and her shock made it feel even more genuine. “I’ll trade you.” 

Gendry blinked in surprise. “Really?” he didn't think anyone would want his crooked toy but him. 

Arya shrugged and offered him her wolf. It looked much better than his and he felt a flicker of embarrassment before remembering she’d practically been raised in a toy shop of course she knew what she was doing. 

“Okay.” Gendry agreed since it seemed to mean so much to her. He took the wolf from her proffered hand and held it aloft. The string lights threw patterns across the small metal figure. “An Arya Stark original.” 

She gave him a funny smile in return before looking down at the bull in her hands. “Does this mean you’re going to go into the family business?” she asked curiously. 

Gendry balked at the question and shifted his feet awkwardly. He knew she didn’t mean anything by it. That by the way Robert pranced him around this party she had to think that they were close but the truth was he didn’t feel welcome in that house or that family. He felt like an obligation and soon enough he’d be an adult and no longer their problem or concern. 

“I don’t really have a family.” Gendry admitted shocked he was saying something so honest to anyone. He rarely let himself be that open even with himself. 

He looked down at Arya expecting to see pity or confusion. She was so young and even though she didn’t get on with her sister her family clearly loved each other. She would never understand. 

To his surprise she didn’t look at him with either of those things. She simply looked at him with gray eyes wise far beyond her years and whispered, “I could be your family.” 

The offer tugged hard at his heart and Gendry looked around at the toy shop and wished for the first time that the Starks had been his long-lost family, that this was where he truly belonged. He gave Arya a halfhearted smile and nodded his head towards the entry loft. People would be looking for them soon enough if they weren’t too drunk yet. 

He didn’t say anything to her family comment. Sometimes there just weren’t the right words. Or if there were, they insisted on alluding him. 

He was eighteen, finally legally an adult and Cersei wasted no time making sure he knew that meant they were no longer obligated to care for him. As far as she was concerned he no longer needed to be a part of their lives. Thankfully, not all of the Baratheons felt the same way and Gendry spent the summer interning at his uncle’s company in Storm’s End and he liked it so much he ended up staying there for school. Robert invited him to join him for winter break and the Stark's annual holiday party but it seemed like too much work and effort to go be shown off like another one of Robert’s toys. He declined and spent Christmas with his friend Davos who was in some of his classes, a late learner. He spent the holiday with him and his wife and sons and it was relaxing and nice even if he spent the whole time worrying about who Arya will hang out with without him there. 

By the time he finally made it back to the Stark's party he was six months out of college and an entry level toy engineer for _Baratheon Toys_. Gendry hated the idea of accepting more help from him especially with Cersei looking down her nose at him the whole time but he didn’t have a whole lot of offers and since he’d refused to take any more money from Robert, he had student loan collectors breathing down his neck. It was not his dream job but he liked making things work and well, Robert offered. 

The Stark party didn’t feel optional to refuse now so Gendry found himself stuffed into a tux and listening politely while Robb Stark, newly appointed head designer, droned on about business tactics. While Gendry was glad not to be a show pony anymore, he still couldn't wait to escape this. 

Finally, he made his excuses and sneaked through the double doors not knowing what to expect to find there. He wondered belatedly if he should be coming back here, he does work for the competitors after all. But he had been coming in there for years and no one ever tried to stop him before. 

Of course Arya was already there, standing in front of the snow globe. She either heard the door open or saw his reflection in the glass because he was barely in the door when she whirled around to face him. She was taller now, although still pretty small. She glared up at him and Gendry wondered if she was always this tiny or he had just gotten taller. 

“I hear you work for Baratheon Toys.” 

It wasn't a question but Gendry nodded anyway. Arya’s brow furrowed at him and she casted a glance at the door before glaring at him. “You shouldn’t be in here.” 

“Do you want me to leave?” something sank in Gendry's chest although he was not sure why. He felt like he was losing something but he couldn’t say what. 

Arya glared at him and he was not surprised to find that the heat of it was even worse than when she was a child. Although at seventeen she was a child still. With a start he realized that she was the same age he was when they last saw each other. He remembered too well how every emotion burned through him at that age. He couldn’t begrudge her her fury even as it made his own hackles raise. 

“Where were you?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“School.” Gendry admitted honestly mimicking her posture without meaning to. 

Arya scoffed and shook her head. “They don’t give you a break at school?” 

“Traveling costs money Arya.” Gendry snapped, his ire finally breaking to the surface. He knew he’d disappeared without telling her why but come on. She was just a kid how was he supposed to contact her without it being weird? 

“Your dad owns the biggest toy company in the world!” Arya snapped. 

“That’s his money. I’ve taken enough of it.” 

Arya looked at him in surprise, regrading him for a long moment before shaking her head and walking toward Gendry with small little stomps. 

He watched her approach warily suddenly certain he was about to be punched but to his surprise she stopped a foot from him and glared up at him. 

“I want hot chocolate.” 

Gendry blinked at the subject change and she rolled her eyes, poking him in the chest until he turned towards the door. 

“Let’s go get some and then you can tell me all about college.” she said the last word with disdain but as she led Gendry out of the room, he couldn’t help but smile. 

When he ducked into the toy room the next year she wasn’t there. Gendry poked around the shop in case she was somewhere in the back but she was nowhere to be found. He hadn’t seen her anywhere in the party either. He slumped against the wall and glared at the snow swirling in the globe. Faced with the thought of going through the whole night alone without her company to distract him Gendry finally understood why she was so pissed at him for missing a few parties. 

A year passed in a blur of work, toys, blueprints and schematics and before he knew it Gendry was back in _Winterfell Wonders_ scanning the party guests in a way he hoped wasn’t too conspicuous. He was certain that she will be there this year, that last year had to have been a fluke but he couldn’t seem to find her anywhere. 

“She’s in Bravos.” a voice beside him said and Gendry started, turning to look down in surprise at one of the younger Starks. 

Bran stared up at him with dark eerie eyes and Gendry felt a shiver run down his spine though he couldn’t for the life of him say why. 

“Who?” he asked trying to pretend to be cool. He hadn’t even known her siblings knew they were friends, let alone how Bran knew who he was looking for. 

The young man didn’t bother to answer Gendry and his obvious deflection he just turned and surveyed the party with those dark unsettling eyes. 

“Have you been to Bravos?” Gendry asked even though he hated small talk and part of him wanted to run far away from the gaze that felt like it was staring into his soul. 

“There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.” Bran murmured in response before turning away. 

Gendry stared after him for a moment before shaking his head. That didn’t answer his question at all. 

He got it now why Arya was so mad at him for missing a few years. He was feeling pretty annoyed with her himself. She went to Bravos and didn’t even tell him? 

The moment he thought it he knew it wasn’t fair. Why would she tell him? They had really only spoken a handful of holidays over the years. Just because they sought each other out for refuge every holiday party didn’t make them friends. They were acquaintances at best. 

When he arrived home at his small studio apartment the metal wolf she gave him all those years ago suddenly felt like a joke. He held it in his hands, the metal cold against his skin and debated throwing it out. Even with the anger bubbling under his skin he couldn’t bear the thought. He set it back down on the shelf and tried to ignore how it felt like its eyes followed him around his empty home. 

He wasn’t optimistic about the party the next year but he went because it was required of him. The conversations fell on him like heavy blankets and he tried to play along, to laugh and nod and smile but it all seemed too forced, too fake, and he barely made it five minutes before he was excusing himself from a conversation with the eldest Stark daughter and slipping away to the workshop. 

The doors were unlocked as always. Gendry couldn’t believe how lack they were about security especially when they had a store full of people who were their competition and some would definitely stoop low enough to steal their inventions and secrets. 

The workshop was empty and he walked to the end of the loft, looking down at the rows of desks and gadgets so cluttered and open and vastly different from the stainless-steel assembly lines of _Baratheon Toys_. Not for the first time he wondered how such a small operation put out the sheer number of toys they did each year. _Winterfell Wonders_ should barely be a blip on the map of the toy world and instead they were their biggest competition. Gendry couldn’t even fathom where they had the space to create the sheer number of toys they made each year let alone store them. 

The doors opening behind him drew him from his thoughts and he started in surprise as Arya slipped through the doors. He hadn’t realized she was there that year and something in him relaxed at the sight of her. The joy of seeing her still wasn’t out of his system when he was suddenly glaring at her in annoyance. 

“How was Bravos?” his voice was snappish, almost childish, and Gendry cringed inwardly at the sound of it. Very mature. 

She raised her brows at him. “Great.” 

“Nice of you to tell me you were going.” ugh Gendry what the fuck? he chided himself, internally kicking himself as his cheeks flushed red with anger. Way to sound like a dick. 

“Maybe if I had a way to contact you, I would have.” she snapped. 

“Well maybe you should have one then!” 

“Fine! Give me your phone stupid.” Arya huffed, stomping towards him to snatch the phone from his outstretched hand. 

He let her take it even as he glared at her. She typed a few things into his phone and then her own before shoving his back into his hands. It pinged in his hand and he looked down to see a new text. 

_No excuses now stupid._

Even with having each other's phone numbers Arya and him didn’t talk all the time but they talked at least once a month. Gendry was surprised at how easy it was to open up to her. All his ex-girlfriends always accused him of being too closed off but something about Arya just made her so easy to talk too. Not that she was his girlfriend of course. Far from it. He supposed he could at least call her a friend now. He thought it was just easy to talk to her because it was through the phone, he didn’t have to see her face. He was fully expecting to see her at the annual party and clam up again. 

It was nice knowing that she would be there ahead of time. He didn’t feel the usual flutter of anxiety wondering if she’d be there or not. She was even bringing her boyfriend home for the holidays and Gendry was almost excited to meet him, mainly so that he could make fun of her for her taste. He'd seen pictures of the two of them on her Instagram and every time he saw her boyfriend's blue hair he rolled his eyes in amusement. 

The first thing Gendry noticed when he sees her is that she held herself differently now and while she wasn’t any taller Gendry could see the differences in her. He was almost surprised to realize that she was not a girl anymore, she was a woman. It shouldn't have been surprising considering that she was in her twenties now but in his head he guessed she was still just the gangly kid that was his holiday refuge for so long. 

She was even wearing a dress, a tight bright red thing that clung to curves he hadn’t realized she had. Gendry was pretty sure he hadn’t seen her in a dress since the night she called herself a tree. 

“I miss the acorns.” Gendry whispered into her ear, slipping up beside her. 

She elbowed him lightly in the ribs before looking over her shoulder at him with a grin. “Shut up. I’m embracing my femininity.” she rolled her eyes as the words passed her lips. 

“Glad to see you and Sansa are starting to get along.” Gendry grinned. Arya just whispered for him to shut up again. 

Aegon Targaryen was little more than what Gendry expected. He was too busy talking with all the bigwig investors about some idea he had to notice when Arya and Gendry slipped away into the workshop, their arms full of cookies and booze. 

They were half a bottle of disgusting peppermint schnapps in when the doors suddenly rattled. Gendry looked at them with a start then back over at Arya with a furrowed brow. He hadn’t noticed her locking the doors behind them. 

There was a light knock on the door and Aegon’s lilting voice called through faintly, “Arya? Are you in there?” 

Gendry expected Arya to get up and go let her date in but instead she slumped against the wall, bringing the bottle back to her lips. He heard her mumble something against the glass that sounded like “That answers that question.” but he couldn't be sure and he didn't like Aegon enough to ask. 

They spent the night like years past the only addition now being they both ended up with hangovers in the morning to remind them. 

Monthly phone calls turned into biweekly then weekly and soon enough Arya and him were talking on the phone every day. Sometimes just for a few minutes on lunch breaks but often for hours while one of them was making dinner even with the time difference. He sent her a gift when she graduated college, not surprised to learn that she has taken a job at her family’s company. She was always going to end up there eventually. 

He felt like he knew her better than anyone in the world and vis versa. He was pretty sure no one else knew about their friendship though which made it all the more surprising when he was cornered after work one evening a week before the Stark holiday party by Petyr Baelish and Cersei. 

They peppered him for info on the Starks but unless they wanted to know how Arya ate her eggs, he didn’t really have any. They didn’t seem happy with this info and made it clear his future at the company was at stake. They offered him money to get them info from the workshop, a lot of money. More than enough to get him out of debt and solid on his feet. He had a feeling that number hadn’t been plucked out of thin air and his stomach felt hollow at the thought. He wasn’t about to commit corporate espionage on anyone, let alone Arya’s family and company, and told them that on very certain terms. They seemed amused by this answer and Gendry had a feeling his days at _Baratheon Toys_ might soon be coming to an end. 

It felt too heavy of a conversation to have on the phone so the moment he saw Arya at the party he slipped his hand around her arm and guided her into the workshop. She looked up at him curiously but she must see the urgency on his face because she goes without protest. He noticed Baelish see them leave together and he was certain he was hammering the final nail in his coffin but it didn’t slow his steps. 

The doors had barely shut behind them when the words were spilling from Gendry’s lips. 

“I’ve been asked to spy on your family.” 

Arya looked at him with curiosity but she didn’t look surprised. The story fell from Gendry’s lips quickly like he was afraid he would forget it if he didn’t say it all right this minute. By the time he was finished he realized it was the most he had ever said to her at once without the phone to hide behind. He felt strangely exposed when he was done even though he knew he had done nothing wrong. 

To his surprise Arya didn't look shocked or even angry. She merely laughed. Gendry stared down at her in disbelief. 

“Well clearly they picked the wrong person to turn against us.” Arya said with a wry shake of her head. 

Gendry looked down at her in confusion before nodding his head slowly. “Clearly.” 

If she reacted this casually to the thought of her biggest competitors spying on them Gendry was beginning to realize he didn’t really know anything about _Winterfell Wonders_. 

To his surprise he wasn’t immediately fired upon returning from the party. He was called into Robert’s office and told he was on Cersei’s bad side but Robert just laughed and says his wife was made of bad sides. Gendry didn’t argue. 

It was thin ice but he was still standing on it and somehow, he made it through a year of long nights and projects being rejected and reworked more times than necessary and being watched like a hawk for his every move on the slightest chance he would slip up. By the time the holiday party arrived Gendry was so exhausted he was tempted to skip it but he knew it would only be a mark against him so he slept on the plane instead. 

The party was a blur of names and faces he should know by now but couldn’t seem to get his brain to retain. He nearly passed out in relief when Arya took his hand and steered him away into the shop. He was wondering if it would be rude to ask her if he could take a nap when he suddenly started and stood up straight. 

For once they weren't alone in the workshop. 

Eddard Stark looked away from the snow globe he had been watching the snow swirl in as his youngest daughter and Gendry approached him. Gendry pulled at his collar nervously; slightly annoyed Arya hadn’t warned him her father was in here. 

“Arya tells me you were asked to spy on us.” Eddard said lightly as if it was an everyday occurrence. Gendry was beginning to wonder if it was. 

He nodded not really knowing what else to say to that. 

“I’m impressed by your loyalty. Even more impressed by your work.” 

“Thank you sir.” Gendry said, startled. _Winterfell Wonders_ had been in operation for generations. If there was a higher compliment for a toymaker Gendry couldn’t think of it. 

“Are you happy at Baratheon Toys?” 

Gendry snorted before he could stop himself and then shifted his feet, embarrassed. “Err not really. Sir.” 

Eddard looked at him with some amusement. “Would you like to work here at Winterfell?” 

Gendry gaped at him, certain that he had misheard him. He would be convinced that he had if it wasn’t for Arya practically vibrating with excitement next to him. “Work...here?” 

Eddard smiled widely at him and Gendry turned his head to see Arya beaming. 

“Well?” she asked impatiently when it became clear he was too stunned to answer. “Yes or no?” 

As if there was even more than one answer to that question. 

Robert acted annoyed to be losing Gendry to his competition but behind his annoyance Gendry had a feeling he was secretly relieved. It would certainly make things easier for him with Cersei to have Gendry out of their lives. 

For the first few months after his move up North Gendry felt like he was in a dream and he was too scared to even pinch himself because he didn’t want to wake up. 

Every day he got to go to work in a toyshop that was filled with wonders and magic. Or at least it felt like magic watching the toys be built there. Each of the Stark children had their own station and they created toys to their specialty. They had even branched into creating books and backstories for some of their toys lately and the man who wrote the books, Samwell Tarly, was always happy to let Gendry spitball ideas off him until he was ready to take them to the Starks. 

Gendry was in charge of mechanics. Not just a small number of toys either like he was for _Baratheon Toys_. The entirety of mechanics for all the toys in the shop. It was a hard job and a lot of work but he had a feeling it wasn't as hard as it should be. He would get the mechanics to finally work right for a toy and be ready to come in the next day and replicate it a hundred or so times only to find that it had already been done for him and they were ready for him to move onto the next toy. 

“Do elves work here?” Gendry asked Arya one morning when he realized the engine he’d made for the flying dragons had already been used and implemented and he could move onto the castle drawbridge now. 

“Don’t be stupid.” Arya chided throwing a candy cane at him from her station across the aisle. 

By the time the holiday party rolled around Gendry was shocked he’d already been at WW for a year. It had been the best year of his life, easily. It didn’t even feel like work, just fun. 

Seeing Robert wasn’t even as awkward as Gendry was afraid of especially knowing he would be gone again in a few days and they could go back to pretending the other didn’t exist. 

“Hide.” Arya’s hands were suddenly wrapped around his bicep and he looked down at her in surprise. 

“Why?” he asked curiously already letting her pull him after her. He'd already had to talk to Robert and Cersei, who else was there to hide from? 

“Robb had too much eggnog. He wants to sing carols.” Arya looked back at him with wide eyes. Gendry winced, all too familiar with Robb’s singing voice. He hurried after her into the workshop and down the steps onto the floor proper. 

They both ducked as the door opened behind them and Gendry scooted after Arya on his hands and knees feeling utterly ridiculous. It would be way worse if they were caught now. 

“Arya!” Robb called with a distinctive slur to his voice. There was a thud and a crash and a muffled ‘ow’ from his direction. Gendry bit his lip to keep from laughing. Arya came to a stop in front of one of the display tables where they kept the finished toys. She lifted the edge of the tablecloth and beckoned Gendry to follow her underneath it. He was so tall he had to practically curl into a ball to fit under it. Arya was pressed tightly against his side and he could feel her heart racing where it pressed against his arm. He wondered if she could tell his heart was beating just as fast. 

It wasn’t Robb’s stumbling footsteps drawing closer that was making it beat that quickly. 

Gendry spent the passing year with two questions burning in his mind. One, should he tell Arya that he had romantic feelings for her? And two, how the hell did the small shop make that many toys a year? 

So far, he’d yet to work up the courage to act on either question although it was getting harder to avoid the first. Arya had dyed her hair pink recently and Gendry was surprised by how much it suited her and even more by how much he wanted to bury his nose in it and see if it smelled like cotton candy like it looked. 

He spent the majority of the holiday party avoiding it, Robert and Arya being too much to face in one night. She found him of course, sitting at his desk and tinkering with the metal heart of a solider. 

“Hey.” she said perching on the corner of his desk. Gendry grunted but didn’t look up from the metal. If he did, he would see her and be unable to look away. They worked together, she got him this job. He didn’t need to make it awkward. Plus, she was his best friend. He would hate to lose her because he couldn’t keep his feelings in check. 

“You’ve been avoiding me.” 

It was not a question as few things with Arya ever were. Gendry’s hands still on the toy and he knew better than to lie. He nodded in response but still couldn’t bring himself to look at her. 

“Did I do something wrong?” 

Her voice was soft, unsure. She rarely sounded so broken and that was what made Gendry look over at her at last. 

“No, I did.” he assured her not able to bear the thought of her thinking she did something bad even for a moment. 

“What?” 

Gendry swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. Part of his brain was screaming to shut up and leave the other was screeching now or never. In the end they both won. Gendry stumbled up to his feet even as the words tumbled over his lips. 

“I like you. I didn’t mean too. I know the age difference and our backgrounds, and hells we work together but-” his mouth was rambling like it had no intention of ever stopping but Arya caught the collar of his sweater in her hands and with her lips on his Gendry finally stopped talking. 

“Come with me.” a soft voice whispered in his ear and Gendry turned to see Arya standing behind him smiling nervously. It was Christmas Eve and they had just closed the shop for the holiday season. For the third year since he’d been there, they’d sold out of everything yet again. They also seemed to have exactly the right number of certain toys for the right customers. Even the last customer to come in when they had only one toy left on the shelves had been looking for that exact toy. There was some kind of magic afoot in the shop but it was good magic so Gendry wasn’t about to question it. Well at least not too much. 

The doors were locked and they were the only two left in the shop but Arya still didn’t let go of Gendry's hand as she led him across the showroom floor to the workshop. He followed after her curiously, his interest only growing as she stopped in front of the snow globe taking up the majority of the entry way of the workshop. 

“I know you have some questions.” Arya began nervously, finally letting go of his hand as she turned to face him. “About working here.” 

Gendry nodded mutely scared if he spoke it would scare her off from giving him answers. 

“You’ve proven time and time again to be nothing but loyal to us. We know you can keep a secret. I trust you.” Arya’s eyes bore into his and Gendry was finding it hard to breath. Something big was about to happen, he could feel it. 

She took a small metal jack out her pocket and held it out to Gendry. He looked down at it curiously and that curiosity only grew as Arya climbed up onto the rim of the snow globe. Gendry had never even noticed before that the base of it was small steep stairs. The globe looked almost bigger than she was but Arya didn’t seem deterred as she opened a small hatch at the top of the glass. Gendry opened his mouth to ask what she was doing but his words died in his throat as she dropped the jack in and closed the hatch. 

Before his eyes the jack seemed to multiply until the entire globe was filled with jacks. Arya carefully began to pull them out by the handful looking down at Gendry with a smile. 

“Pass me that bucket?” she asked softly, as if she spoke too loudly that would be what made him flee the room. 

Gendry did what she asked on autopilot getting her new buckets whenever the one she was filling was full. Finally, the snow globe was empty of toys and Arya closed the hatch. It filled with snow once more and Gendry watched it swirl in stunned silence. 

“So that’s how you make all the toys.” Gendry whispered in awe. He was not as shocked as he thought he should be. Deep down he was pretty sure he always knew there was magic in this workshop. 

Arya looked at him nervously, as if she was afraid of how he would react or that he would run out and tell everyone. Gendry stepped forward to wrap his arms around her resting his chin on the top of her head. 

“Thank you for telling me. Your secret is safe with me.” 

“Our secret now.” Arya reminded him pulling back to look up at him. 

Gendry smiled and leaned down to kiss her. “Our secret.” he whispered against her lips. 

He looked at the snow globe curiously once he pulled away. “Is there any other magic here I should know about?” he joked not really expecting an answer. 

“Just the doors.” Arya shrugged against him. 

“What?” 

Arya looked up at him sheepishly. “The doors are enchanted. Only people with worthy and true hearts can come through them.” 

“Oh. I guess that’s why the doors were never locked.” Gendry said dumbfounded. 

“That’s why I always trusted you. I knew I could.” 

Gendry smiled down at her in surprise and Arya rolled her eyes in response. 

“What?” she asked with raised brows. “You think I just give anyone who comes in here tours and Arya Stark original toys?” 

Gendry laughed and leaned down to kiss her again. “Course not. I know you better than that.” 

A small part of him felt like he should be more concerned by all of this but Gendry had always known on some level that there was something otherworldly afoot there. He didn’t mind though. The world could do with a bit more magic.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want some more Christmasy Gendrya check out my time loop fic [merry, bright, repeat](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945041)  
> find me on tumblr @lumierelalune


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